Keyhole area illumination means



June 11, 1968 .1. H. CASTOE 3,388,244

KEYHOLE AREA ILLUMINATION MEANS Filed Aug. 51, 1965 firmeA/s g UnitedStates Patent 3,388,244 KEYHOLE AREA ILLUMINATION MEANS John H. Castoe,6718 Shady Grove St., Tujunga, Calif. 91042 Filed Aug. 31, 1965, Ser.No. 484,067 4 Claims. (Cl. 240-213) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A keyholearea illumination device for motor vehicle doors operable by pushing thelatch releasing button of the locking mechanism only and characterizedby the addition of components to the existing locking mechanism and bythe absence of the substitution of parts for the locking mechanism.

This invention relates to locks and keys and more particularly to a lockassociated keyhole area illuminating means operable as a prior incidentto key insertion to effect illumination of the keyhole area withresultant facilitation of the insertion of the key.

Motor vehicles are often parked at night on streets and in parking areasin which suitable lighting is either absent or so poor as to make itdifiicult to locate the doorlock keyhole.

With these considerations in mind, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide a keyhole area illumination means which is normallyinoperative but which is rendered momentarily effective by suitablemanipulation of an element of the lock mechanism other than the keyoperated means thereof to provide sufiicient illumination so that thekey can be readily inserted in the keyhole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the abovecharacter which is capable of being applied to existing vehicle doorlocking devices.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device in whichthe objectives of the invention are realized in practice, which issimple in construction and capable of economical manufacture, which isreadily installed and which is effective for its intended purpose.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with such additionalobjects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention residesin the parts, and in the construction, combination and arrangement ofparts described, by way of example, in the following specification ofcertain presently preferred embodiments of the invention, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings which form a part of saidspecification and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the lock area of a motor vehicle doorshowing the exposed portion of one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG.1,

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged, medial sectional view of the light bulbholding and shielding means taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the plane of the line 4-4of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the light bulb mounting means, securingmeans therefor and the light operating switch, and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged scale, top plan view of the demountable light bulbholding means as viewed on the plane of the line 6-6 of FIG. 1.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-6, the first embodiment of the invention isshown as applied to the door A of an automotive vehicle having anexterior operating handle B and an associated door latch operating,thumb actuated button C together with the bezel mounted exterior portionD of the key operated lock E including a keyhole F disposed below thehandle. The door is hollow and contains latch 3,383,244 Patented June11, 1968 "ice operating mechanism generally indicated at G and includinga lever arm H which is pivotally mounted for rocking movement aboutpivot means I and is biased by a spring I to normally move in aclockwise direction to the extent permitted by means presently to bedescribed and which is moved counterclockwise by a plunger K attached tothe button C. The lock mechanism E actuates other devices L which serveto lock the pivot means I against movement of the pivot means and thedoor latch or to disable said devices to permit the free manualoperation of the latch by the button C. The foregoing is representativeof the usual form of automobile door locking mechanism and, except for aminor modification to be presently described, forms no part of the firstembodiment of the present invention.

The first embodiment of the invention includes a light bulb and housingcomponent 1 and an operating switch component 2. The light bulb housingcomprises a hollow, cylindrical member 3 having a closed outer endportion 4 here shown as presenting an end surface of shallow conicalconfiguration. Adjacent to said outer end portion is a body portion oflesser diameter than said head portion which is interrupted by aperipheral groove 5 dividing said body portion into a narrow outerportion 6 adjacent to the portion 4 and a wider inner portion 7. Themember 3 is closely fitted into a hole 8 formed in the outer wall of theautomobile door above the exposed end D of the lock E and a spring metalbifurcated clip 9 having similarly laterally bowed leg elements 10, 1t]spaced from each other a distance only slightly greater than thediameter of the groove 5 is insertable in and removable from the groove5 through an opening 5 formed in the adjacent end wall A of the door asshown in FIG. 6, said clip reacting by the ends of said bowed legelements engaging the inner face of the outer wall of the door atopposite sides of the lamp housing and the portions of the leg elementsbetween said points of engagement with the door surface engaging theshoulder formed by the juncture of the side wall of the groove 5 withthe inner portion 7 of the body, the extent of bowing of the clip legsbeing sutiiciently greater than the width of the groove 5 to cause thelegs to be resiliently deformed to a more nearly straight configurationwhen engaged with said groove and thus serving to seat the housing 3firmly in the hole 8.

The inner end of the housing terminates in a relatively thin annular endwall portion 11 adapted to be fricti-onally engaged by the innerdiameter of a resilient wall '12 on a light bulb socket 13 carrying aremovable light bulb 14 disposed in the hollow interior of the housing 3and one side of the head or outer portion 4 is provided with a narrowslot 15 through which light from the bulb emerges. Since the housing isdisposed above the exposed end D of the lock, it is installed with theslot 15 disposed at the under side thereof so that emitted light will bedirected toward the said exposed end of the lock and make the keyholereadily observable. The socket and bulb here shown are standard articlesof commerce and the end of the housing member 3 is machined toaccommodate a socket of this character. The particular bulb and sockethere shown are of the bayonet lock type but, if desired, a suitablescrew type socket and bulb could of course be used with suitableadaptation of the inner end of the housing 3.

The socket 13 here shown includes electric leads 16 and 17. The lead 16is connected with the electric system of the vehicle by appropriateconnection to electrically operated devices within the door such as thepower operated window regulating devices or to the ungrounded or hotside of the door operated courtesy light switch through conductor meanssuch as are employed to conduct operating current to door containeddevices. The lead 17 extends from the light to the terminal =18 of thenormally open switch component 2 mounted on and conductively connectedto the lever arm H. The switch includes a reciprocable plunger element19 spring biased outwardly away from the switch body, said plungernormally engaging an abutment 20 formed by the portion of the car doorhandle B which projects to the inner side of the door. The switch is astandard switch normally employed on automobile doors for operation ofthe courtesy" light and when the plunger is moved inwardly against thespring bias of the switch, the switch points are disengaged. When theplunger 19 is allowed to move outwardly sufliciently to close the switchcontacts as by causing counterclockwise movement of the arm H by inwardpressure on the pushbutton C, the circuit will be completed through thelamp and illuminate the keyhole area. Upon release of the button C, theswitch will be automatically opened.

The device is simple and except for the lamp housing is formed fromexisting standard off the shelf components. Installation on existingvehicles requires only the cutting of an appropriate hole in the doormaterial drilling a switch receiving hole in the pushbutton operatedlever arm component of the door lock and the formation of the opening 5'in the end wall of the door. For those vehicles not having electricallyactuated devices within the door, the same devices presently employed toconduct current to such devices may be employed to conduct current intothe interior of the door for actuation of the light of the presentinvention.

It will be evident that upon approaching any car in a darkened area, theactuation of the latch operating button of the door will momentarilyilluminate the keyhole area to facilitate insertion of the key to unlockthe car.

Accordingly, while the foregoing specification has disclosed certainpresently preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be understoodthat the invention is not intended to be limited to the precise detailsof construction thus disclosed by way of example and it will beunderstood, further, that the invention includes as well all suchchanges and modifications in the parts and in the construction,combination and arrangement of parts as shall come within the purview ofthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a lock for a motor vehicle door having both aspring biased latch and manually operable means for releasing said latchagainst the spring bias thereof and a key operated locking and unlockingmeans including a member having a keyhole, of keyhole area illuminationmeans; said illumination means comprising: a light bulb socket mountedin and extending through the door adjacent to the keyhole member of thelock, a light bulb mounted in said socket, means in said socketoperative to direct emitted light to illuminate the area surrounding thekeyhole, electrical circuit means connecting said light bulb to a sourceof electrical energy, a switch in said circuit means mounted on amovable component of the manually operable latch releasing means andincluding means normally intending to close said switch, the spring biasswitch being insufiicient to overcome the spring bias of and resultantlynormally of said latch releasing means and, maintaining said switchopen, and devices interposed between said switch and the spring biasedlatch operating means of the lock operative incident to latch releasingmovement of said spring biased means to overcome the bias of said latchreleasing means to permit the spring bias of said switch to close saidswitch with resultant illumination of the keyhole area by said lightbulb.

2. An automobile door keyhole area illumination means as claimed inclaim 1 in which said switch is mounted on a lever arm component of thedoor latch and is normally maintained in open position by the springbias of the door latch releasing means.

3. A keyhole area illumination means as claimed in claim .1 in whichsaid socket means is detachably mounted onlthe door to afford access forreplacement of said light bu b.

4. An automobile door keyhole area illumination means as claimed inclaim 3 in which said socket means serves as the mounting means for saidlight bulb and is removably secured to the automobile door by releasabledevices disposed on an inner surface of the door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,029,002 1/1936 Smiley 240-2132,767,303 10/ 1956 Romney et al. 24O-2.l'3 3,162,374 12/1964 Skokut240-213 3,270,191 8/1966 Hilliard 2402.l3 3,280,321 10/4966 Overesch240-2.13

NORTON 'ANSHER, Primary Examiner. C. C. LOGAN, Assistant Examiner.

